Just when it looked like the Pirates might’ve found brighter days, Sonny Gray came along and darkened the mood.
The Red Sox starting pitcher kept the Pirates bats at bay during a 4-0 loss on Saturday, knotting this series at a game apiece. Gray worked seven shutout innings and struck out seven, helping to deal the Pirates their fifth shutout loss since the All-Star break.
With the defeat, Pittsburgh dropped to 60-65. The Pirates had scored 21 runs in the previous two games combined, but this one wasn’t anywhere close to that.
They finished with six hits, none for extra bases and none over the final three innings. After Gray, Erik Miller worked the eighth, and former Pirate Aroldis Chapman took care of the ninth.
"Man, he kept us off balance, changing speeds, in and out," Pirates manager Don Kelly said of Gray. "That's been a recurring theme throughout the year when we haven't scored. It's been not getting the big base hit and not being able to stack runs together. We weren't able to get it [Saturday]. Sonny was able to pitch his way out."
The Pirates went hitless in three at-bats with runners in scoring position and stranded five. They couldn't do anything with singles in the first and second against Gray, and Ronny Simon hit into a double play to end the fourth.
In the fifth, Pittsburgh loaded the bases thanks to Jake Mangum and Rafael Flores Jr. singles, as well as a Spencer Horwitz walk. But Brandon Lowe struck out on a sweeper from Gray, who used that pitch to notch four of his seven strikeouts and five of his nine whiffs.
On the season, opponents were hitting just .129 against Gray’s sweeper and whiffing 37.9% of the time. It looked every bit that good on Saturday night.
Gray gave the Red Sox seven innings of shutout ball, allowing six hits while walking one and striking out seven. Gray, who’s worked at least six innings in each of his past four starts, improved to 15-3 and dropped his ERA to 2.65.
"He made pitches when he needed to," Kelly said.
Though the Pirates will need a win Sunday to avoid their eighth straight series loss, this was a strong start for Jared Jones, especially during a few innings where had his back against the wall.
Jones allowed one run on four hits over five. He walked two, struck out seven and racked up 17 whiffs, including five with his changeup.
"Jared did a fantastic job of finding a way to pitch out of traffic," Kelly said. "What a competitor. [Jones] made pitches when he had to, too."
Jones faced second and third with nobody out in the third. However, he struck out center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela on a four-seamer and catcher Adley Rutschman on a slider, stranding two.
The next inning, Jones upped the difficulty. First baseman Willson Contreras walked, and right fielder Wilyer Abreu cracked a double. Throwing more of a true mix than usual, Jones induced a ground ball on a changeup, struck out left fielder Jarren Duran with a four-seamer and got shortstop Andruw Monasterio to fly out to center field on a slider.
"Really positive," Jones said. "Thought getting out of those jams in the third and fourth was pretty huge for us as a team and for my personal confidence going into games. I couldn't really ask for much more."
The only damage came on Abreu’s solo homer in the second. Jones missed with a fastball. Abreu crushed it 420 feet to right field at 110.8 mph for his 22nd of the season. Jones would escape the inning by picking off third baseman Caleb Durbin and striking out Duran on a changeup below the zone.
After Jones exited, Wilber Dotel kept the game close with two scoreless innings, leaning on a double play to end the sixth and striking out second baseman Nick Sogard to end the seventh. Gregory Soto aded a scoreless eighth, but Luke Weaver ran into problems in the ninth.
Weaver gave up a season-high four hits and gave up a two-run double to Monasterio, though it came on a solid pitch, a 1-2 changeup low and away that wasn’t even a strike. Monasterio lined it into left-center to score two.
Designated hitter Jahmai Jones knocked in another run when he lined an outside fastball into left at 106.2 mph, creating the final margin. It marked only the second time Weaver has been scored upon since May 1.
"I got out-executed," Weaver said. "I’ll have to look back to specify some things. I feel like the outing sped up just a tad, put runners in scoring position early on and just kind of grinding over some pitches. They did a really good job of battling at the plate and getting the big hit."
Jason Mackey: Jason.Mackey@pirates.com and @JMackey_PGH on X.